New inmate loading area needed at jail

A new sally port at the Pueblo County Detention Center will trump plumbing work at the jail this year.

Sean Tapia

Facilities Director Sean Tapia told commissioners Wednesday that he plans to take $120,000 from his capital improvements budget for plumbing improvements at the jail to cover the cost of building a new secured prisoner pickup area on the north side of the building.

Tapia said the sally port was part of his budget, but the cost of the gates for the entrance have skyrocketed in the last year.

“The cost of these mechanical gates have now tripled,” Tapia said.

The county has purchased the same gates for other projects and paid about $15,000 for them. Now they are being quoted at $51,000.

Tapia said the county received bids on the project from three different companies and all of them were within $4,000 of each other.

The lowest bid for the project is $116,000. The initial estimate was closer to $30,000.

Commission Chairman Terry Hart noted that this project was another unforeseen expense associated with the new judicial building, which is now five blocks away from the jail instead of next door and a simple walk through a tunnel.

Tapia said he would use money originally earmarked for replacing external water supply lines to each of the five floors in the jail’s tower.

Now that work will have to wait for a year.

Commissioners said they were uncomfortable with that prospect and wondered at whether avoiding making the repairs now would just cost the county more money in the long run.

Tapia said his staff currently addresses the problem by cutting out and replacing sections of the worn and decaying pipe.

“My office functions as a triage unit, not a long-term care facility,” Tapia said, adding that he has about $4 million worth of projects but less than $1 million available in any given year.

“In the event we have emergencies we have to shift priorities,” Tapia said. “If it ain’t broke today and something else is, that becomes our priority.”